A report from The Queensland Legislative Assembly of Australia on Alcohol-Related Violence inexplicably suggests that expanding research into the effects of violent videogames on youth might somehow provide more insight into the impact drinking has on people.

The inquiry (PDF), released last month, was drafted by the Law, Justice and Safety Committee and focuses on “alcohol related violence around licensed premises.” The report begins by asking, “What has happened to Australia’s drinking culture?” and claims that “Vomiting, falling over, and creating a nuisance in public are not seen as shameful but to some are badges of honour.”

In looking for reasons why this prevailing attitude has become the norm, the report suggests examining the background of offenders, for, “It might be that the offenders tend to come from a background of domestic violence, or from childhoods in which they were exposed to domestic violence or family violence, or were babysat by violent interactive video games or were by some other means inured to violence.”

The report continues:

The Committee is aware of research implicating violent interactive video games in youth violence. Making a choice to brutally stab and dismember a moving image is a different experience from simply watching such an event on a screen. The Committee believes that the hypothesis that violent video games are involved in the escalation of youth violence needs further exploration.

Among the report’s 68 recommendations for dealing with alcohol-related violence, the second recommendation is “That the Government consider strategies for determining the effect of violent video games on youth violence, including literature reviews, case studies and investigation.

As a Queensland native and current resident, I can tell you that violent video games has zero to do with Australia's culture of drinking. I can also tell you that Qld is a big nanny state, very big on government intervention in every aspect of our lives.

I've worked security in Qld clubs and violence is because people are effing drunk... I've seen a woman sever all the tendons in her hand by smashing a glass in to another girls face because, and I quote "She bumped me and I spilled my drink"... I've seen guys that afterward claim to be best friends beat each other to a pulp. I've been attacked by a guy that after I wrestled him out of the club and settled him down (literally, not a euphemism for 'beat him up'), he broke down crying and told me his wife had just left him for his best friend and he was really sorry for the trouble he had caused... \= |

Pointing to violent video games is just an easy catchcry and it carries more credence with politicians and legislators because it's flashy/attention grabbing and easy to sell to an ignorant populace. It doesn't deal with actual root causes but more often that not pollies prefer a quick vote grab over any long term hard work.

Only a fool would think it's as simple as one single thing (like drinking or video games) causing society to fall apart.

You could say that playing too much video games and drinking too much and not sleeping enough and missing work and being lazy etc. etc. have to do with a general lack of responsibility, but even that would be over-simplfying the problem. I mean, to discuss this issue would mean we'd have to examine the effects that the media, the education system, immigration, women's rights, and so many other things have had on our societies that it likely will not be constructively debated until most of the planet is dead.

Since when did 'drinking culture' NOT involve “Vomiting, falling over, and creating a nuisance in public"? It was certainly happening in the 1970s in England where I grew up, and videogames had yet to become a cultural factor.

Somehow I think the Queensland Legislative Assembly of Australia on Alcohol-Related Violence is looking at the past with rose-coloured glasses. Vomiting, falling over, and creating a nuisance in public have always been a part of drinking culture. I'm sure they were a part of it right back to the date alcohol first found its way into beverages. And even before that I'm sure people found ways to make themself vomit, fall over and create a nuisance in public, because alcohol is merely one tool for achieving the detached and inhibition-free effect on the mind that some people crave.

Interesting that this connection should be suggested only a few weeks after a video game themed bar opened in Brisbane's (Queensland's capitol city) major nightlife district. Every night since it's opened there has been a line to get into the venue, where people spend all night drinking and playing video games - everything from Guitar Hero and Mario Cart to violent games like CoD and Gears of War.

And with so many people getting drunk and playing games, and so many people having to wait in a line (sometimes over an hour) to get in, how many incidents of violence have there been?

Zero (the owners are very proud of this fact, and mention it often)

I think it just goes to show how mature, friendly and responsible gamers really are, and that when you have a fun, friendly environment people don't generally want to get violent.

When other Brisbane bars are having to go so far as to ban glasses for fear of drunken idiots 'glassing' people, perhaps this inquiry should look elsewhere than games for the source of these problems.

Is there something in the water down in Australia that encourages this kind of free form thinking thats more similar to synaptic misfire than anything drugs or alcohol can induce? I mean seriously, what are they going to try to tie to games next? Can they somehow tie games to kangaroo over population? Or somehow blame games for great white shark attacks? Ooooh! I know! Drought! Yes they can blame computer games for their drought problems.

People play games. Lots of people. Those game systems suck up lots of power. The AC in their homes has to work harder to compensate for the generated heat. More power is used. Requiring more power to be generated. Non-renewable resources are expended. Global warming is accelerated. There's a drought.

Vomiting, falling over, and creating a nuisance in public are not seen as shameful but to some are badges of honour

These kinds of people are probably my single greatest annoyance in the world. I hear someone talking all excited about how they got smashed the night before like it was some kind of achievement and i think "great, you got so drunk you don't even remember the supposedly good time you had, nearly killed yourself with alcohol poisoning, and got to spend the next day in misery with a hang over...yeah good job you fucking idiot"

Of course i am extreamly biased against alcohol. My dad is probably my favorite person in the world, and he was a full on alcoholic. he wasn't a mean drunk or anything, it's just he became annoying, drove with me in the car while i was too young to understand, made my mom forbid me from going and spending the weekends with him (at a time when seeing him was the highpoint of my days), and lost his license, and was in general unreliable. I hate alcohol and what it did to him.

“That the Government consider strategies for determining the effect of violent video games on youth violence, including literature reviews, case studies and investigation."

These organizations are just chasing windmills. They can justify their mission agaisnt alchool induced violence, so now they have to resort videogames to justify their pathetic agenda. Basically, they gave up. Fail.

I've heard this argument that the interactive nature of games make them more harmful many many times. I think it's bunk. Here's why:

Scott McCloud in his excellent Understanding Comics book has an example of how the reader of a comic is involved in the story. The example goes something like this...

In one panel is shown a man grabbing an axe and getting ready to attack someone. The next panel is a night time city shot with the words "AHHH!" printed over it. McCloud then goes on to explain that we all know what happened next (i.e. the man was attacked with the axe) but that we all have different interpretations of how it happened. Where the axe stuck, was the man killed, where on the body, how bloody was it, etc. These are all ways that the viewer is emotionally engaged and "creates" the violence in their mind. In this way, I would argue that books and movies that don't depict graphic violence but have implied violence can be WORSE than media that shows it graphically. Particularly in violent videogames, the actual animations cannot be changed and are thus only the vision of the creators. The player doesn't actually "create" any of the violence that occurs.

This in particular, is why I find the Blair Witch Project to be the scariest movie I've ever seen. No one can illustrate on screen what would scare me more than what I can create in my head.

Another example of this is when they bleep out swear words on television. I find myself trying to figure out what the word was that they censored. Bring more attention to it and thus making it worse than if they hadn't done it at all.

Just my two cents.

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Morality has always been in decline. As you get older, you notice it. When you were younger, you enjoyed it.

” The report begins by asking, “What has happened to Australia’s drinking culture?” and claims that “Vomiting, falling over, and creating a nuisance in public are not seen as shameful but to some are badges of honour.”

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Monte: Though from a business side, i would agree with the article. While it would be smarter for developers to slow down, you can't expect EA, Activision or ubisoft to do something like that. Nintnedo's gotta get the third party back.02/28/2015 - 4:36pm

Monte: Though it does also help that nintendo's more colorful style is a lot less reliant on graphics than more realistic games. Wind Waker is over 10 years old and still looks good for its age.02/28/2015 - 4:33pm

Monte: With the Wii, nintnedo had the right idea. Hold back on shiny graphics and focus on the gameplay experience. Unfortunatly everyone else keeps pushing for newer graphics and it matters less and less each generation. I can barely notice the difference02/28/2015 - 4:29pm

Monte: ON third party developers; i kinda think they should slow down to nintendo's pace. They bemoan the rising costs of AAA gaming, but then constantly push for the best graphics which is makes up a lot of those costs. Be easier to afford if they held back02/28/2015 - 4:27pm

Matthew Wilson: http://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2015/02/28/the-world-is-nintendos-if-only-theyd-take-it/ I think this is a interesting op-ed, but yeah it kind of is stating the obvious.02/28/2015 - 2:52pm